To Fast or Not to Fast? That is Not the Question
Fasting is an interesting topic for the Christian. I think this is for two reasons: first, it’s not often taught about as a practice but rather as a thing people did in Biblical times. The most talked about passage for fasting comes from Jesus’s time in the wilderness. Second, when it is taught, we’re not overly clear on what the focus of the fast is. Many times, I see people preach fasting as an action to take before making a big decision or to hear God’s voice, and while I think those are valid positions to take, I believe they take away from what fasting truly is.
What Should Fasting Not Be?
It’s easier to define what we shouldn’t make fasting out to be than what we should, as I believe is typical when it comes to biblical commands and practices. Fasting should not be a way to force God to do something. In other words, we can’t say to God, “I am going to fast until you answer me.” I tend to believe this falls under the statement “Do not test the Lord your God” from Deuteronomy 6:16. Trying to make the omniscient God of the universe do what we want on our timeline is a futile effort. Trust me. I’ve experienced the frustration of these efforts.
Furthermore, fasting should not just be a physical experience. Fasting is not merely denying the body of something it craves, or at least it shouldn’t be; it should also reach to the mind. Even more, it should reach to our souls. When God makes a command of His people, He does not ask us to do these things in part, just as He does not expect us to do these in part. In a similar manner to the description of the Church Body Paul makes in various epistles, God expects us to act in concert with all parts of ourselves. His command to “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” in Matthew 22:37 speaks to the totality with which God expects us to do things.
And just in case you doubt, let me point you to Paul’s letter to the Colossians. In Chapter 2:16-19, Paul writes, “Therefore, don’t let anyone judge you in regard to food and drink or in the matter of a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of what was to come; the substance is Christ. Let no one condemn you by delighting in ascetic practices and the worship of angels, claiming access to a visionary realm. Such people are inflated by empty notions of their unspiritual mind. They don’t hold on to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and tendons, grows with growth from God.”
Obviously, Paul is not talking about fasting here, but he is talking about the substance of it, which is Christ. In the Old Testament, we’re told of the many festivals and events the Israelites are to remember for what God has done for them. Some of those involve feasts, and some of them involve fasts. These are all meant to point to God, to Christ, in celebration, mourning, and remembrance what God did and what Jesus would eventually do. What Paul is confronting here is a message that invoked these festivals, and other actions besides, that were meant to harm the body in order to reach an enlightenment not reached by those who did not participate. This is an “ascetic practice,” an action taken that causes the body pain in order to deny it and self for a higher purpose.
This is not the goal of fasting. The goal of fasting is not to destroy the temple God gave us to care for. Fasting is not truly about what is being emptied or denied at all. What we see here is something we can see in the Church now where some claim access to a higher visionary realm, a closer relationship with God that gives them special knowledge. Paul somewhat laughs at this statement, claiming it’s an inflation by empty notions and an unspiritual mind. If he were writing another letter, he would have said, “empty notions of a mind not transformed and renewed by Christ” a la Romans 12:2. If you want my opinion on these things, suffice it to say that every major heresy that had its roots in Christianity began with someone who claimed access to a visionary realm or spiritual awakening not achievable by other Christians.
What, Then, is Fasting?
Paul gets to the idea in verse 19 of Colossians 2. Fasting is a holding on to the head, to Christ. Earlier I said that fasting was not about what is being emptied or denied. Rather, it is about what we are filling the opened space with. In the same way we partake of the Lord’s Supper, doing so in remembrance of Christ (Luke 19:22), we partake in fasting in order to remember God, to focus on Him. This is why Paul denies ascetic practices; their only goal is to deny the body, to beat it and break it, to say that it doesn’t matter. Fasting, denying the body of food and/or water (or other things) is not about separating mind from body and beating one into submission but about aligning both with the head, Christ, to be nourished and held together by Him, to gain growth from God. Fasting is about saying that your body needs something but it needs God more.
When Jesus is in the wilderness, He says what fasting is all about, “’It is written: Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God,’” Matthew 4:4. It is not about denying needs but what truly satisfies our needs, what can actually do good work in us. I find Psalm 115 to be more than adequate to touch on why this is the case. When it comes right down to it, our goal is to avoid idolizing things, to make sure our growth comes from God, not things He’s made or given us. If we idolize these things, we make gods that can do nothing as Psalm 115 says. But our God is in heaven and does whatever He pleases. This is the focus.
How, Then, Should We Fast?
The effort, as I’ve said, is not merely to deny ourselves, for our bodies are temples, not the “flesh” that the Scriptures say we are to deny. It’s not about hurting or inconveniencing ourselves in order to look good. In fact, when we fast, the Bible is clear no one should know (Matthew 6:16-18). It is also not about what we are giving up. The things we are giving up are vehicles to clear space for us to seek God.
Fasting, then, should be fairly simple: find the things that get in the way of you seeking God. Sometimes it’s food and water; in this case, make it your goal to pray and read the Bible when you would otherwise eat and drink. In other cases, it’s the Internet, TV, sports, or a variety of other things. But don’t just give these things up because you’ll fill that space with something. Instead, use the times you would be pursuing these fasted things to pursue God. That is how we should fast. It’s not about pain or inconvenience but about trying to know God more deeply, to remember what He’s done, and to discover what He is doing.
Oh, and just to answer the question I posed at the beginning—even though it should be obvious from the last sentence of the previous paragraph—yes, we should be fasting. It should be a consistent part of our Christian lives.